This bathroom upgrade was so fun to do because it was done as a surprise!

This space was in a 2-bedroom 2-bathroom condo which was shared by 2 brothers, and this bathroom was the younger brother's personal bathroom (the other brother had an ensuite), but it was pulling double duty as the powder room for the condo as well! So aside from surprising the younger bro with a nice new bathroom for him, ultimately it would be for their guests as well, so I wanted to make it as neat, clean, tidy, and welcoming as possible.

Before I started picking colours or shopping for decor, I overlaid a bagua map on top of the floorpan to determine which areas of the bathroom fell under which area of life. Here were some of the main issues in the bathroom and which areas of life they were impeding, and how I cured those zones in the design using Feng Shui:

1. The first thing was a dysfunctional towel rack above the toilet that was falling out of the wall, which was the first thing you saw right when you opened the bathroom door. The toilet and this toilet rack area fell under the "fame and reputation" area of the bagua in Feng Shui, and the nature of how it was, according to Feng Shui, meant that it could cause problems in how one was perceived in the world! Bad bad, not good! Another thing about the towel rack being installed above the toilet was simply that it was uncomfortable to use- it was too far from the sink, and would cause you to have to drip your wet hands over the floor and over top of the toilet to grab the towel if you were washing your hands. Even from inside the shower, if you were reaching out to grab the towel, you'd have to hover your arm over the toilet to grab it, which I didn't find very ergonomic or very nice, so I decided to take the towel rack off that wall completely, designed some open shelving to install there instead, decorated it with some Feng Shui elements, and moved the towel rack to the back of the door, where it would be easier and closer to grab after washing your hands or after having a shower. 

In Feng Shui, it is generally unfavourable to have a toilet in the "fame" area of the bagua, and it can mean that you are "draining" your good reputation, or that you have your "fame in the toilet," so to speak. (Actually, anywhere that you have a toilet, it can drain energy, so it's important to check and energize the area, no matter where it is). In this layout, "fame" is where the toilet landed on the bagua, but instead of moving the toilet, you can just implement as many Feng Shui suggestions as possible to energize this area and cure the issue of draining your positive reputation!

I've always liked the look of those thoughtfully decorated floating shelves in bathrooms, so I decided to build these from a design I found on Pinterest. I like the light-coloured look of the wood, instead of painting them, because they matched some wood elements on the cabinets under the sink, and I staggered them rather than lining them up exactly one on top of the other, to created a visual "block" of the drain (in order to not "drain" any positive energy in this area). I also told the brothers to try to always keep the toilet lids closed - so as to not let any positive energy drain away. I cannot confirm or deny whether they continued doing this after I left, but it's a tip I give to everyone! I wanted to keep the decor simple on these shelves, so I got a couple of small fake succulents (made sure that they are reaching UP), as well as the word "smile" in gold which I found at Indigo, and a little wooden black bear figure from Value Village. To me this decor was perfect for enhancing the fame area because it meant being known for being positive, radiant, happy, strong, courageous, thoughtful, and independent. Now when you opened the door the the bathroom, you'd associate the experience to something nice rather than something busted!

2. The second area that stood out to me was the messy medicine cabinet which fell under the "love and relationships" area of the bagua. Since it was unorganized and the door was broken off, in a Feng Shui sense, this area was possibly impeding the bro's love life situation! The door had broken off years prior, so I decided to freshen the shelf up on the inside with some paint, as well as the trim, and make it look like a built-in. It looked so much neater already! Then I organized the daily-use bathroom items as neatly as possible, put anything that didn't need to be out, under the sink, and incorporated "pairs" of things into this area by placing doubles of a couple of items on the shelves. Pairs are excellent to incorporate into the "love" area of the bagua, when you are looking to nourish or attract a loving relationship into your life. So, I put 2 of his beard oils there, side by side, and got 2 mason jars from the dollar store and filled them with cotton pads and q-tips and put them on the top shelf as well. This way, 2 pairs of things would be visible in the love area and enhance the bro's love life! (Side note: the bro didn't use cotton pads, but when his girlfriend would stay over it would be so much more nice and comfortable for her having those items available to use! So we enhanced the love area for them both; win-win!)

3. The bathroom sink. There was a hole in the drywall to the right of the sink, where there used to be a metal ledge/ old school soap and toothbrush holder, that had fallen off and was stored under the sink, leaving the drywall exposed to moisture and possible mould! This was an easy (and necessary) fix; I used some fixative glue to put it back in the wall. It was not a very useful ledge for holding soap or a toothbrush though, so I placed a scented candle there from Indigo in a nice masculine and woodsy scent that also matched the color scheme I was going for. In Feng Shui, this area of the bathroom fell under the "travel and helpful people" area of the bagua, which I further enhanced by carefully picking out some art I thought would be perfect for the bro's travel and life goals. 

I chose this art because the bro was traveling for work, so I wanted to manifest some cool new destinations for him to travel to. I also wanted him to find some serenity and calmness within himself, which is why I chose this art of the man standing in these calm waters, taking in this gorgeous scene. I incorporated white into the frame because the element for this area of the bagua is "heaven" and I wanted to give this bathroom a feeling of a little calm and personal sanctuary.